John and Aysel to the Rescue!

This morning, Steve, who has been helping us with our electrical issues came by to try and sort out the wiring for our starter battery. Something about a diode switch…anyways it’s turned off now so now we can monitor our battery usage and get an idea of what sucks our batteries dry the quickest. We always thought it was our old fridge that was the culprit. But have found that it is our lights which consume a huge amount of energy. Hopefully some new LED light bulbs will help the issue. And to continue our work towards making ourselves more energy sufficient, Mike went into town with plans of ordering solar panels. Again, John and Aysel to the rescue. They happened to be with Mike and overheard the conversation. Panels made in China, only a 2 year warranty, didn’t know of any where outside Turkey that would honor the warranty… Mike was reluctant but was at the point where we need to keep making progress and this was the place a ton of other cruisers have used. Thankfully, John had another resource for solar panels which looks to be a much better deal…made in Spain, 25 year warranty, sizes better suited for our boat. They will even travel from Izmir, just for the cost of diesel, and install them for you! As Mike was running around town, I continued my varnishing. I got a coat on all of the ‘outside’ and inside floors, plus some extra spots and in the process have practically sanded off the tips of my fingers! And the galley is now officially closed and so thankful that Aysel invited us over for dinner on Quest! She fed us and even helped with translation with the solar panel guy who Mike phoned in the evening. How are we going to survive again without them?!

Hands Off My Varnish

Today wasn’t much better. Mike continued to work on making the metal bases for the rigging. Only to get bashed in the ankle a couple of times with a deck block while trying to drill out the stainless steel mounting plate so it would fit a metric bolt. But with much perseverance and a bit of swearing he got it done. I continued with my varnishing and started on the aft floor boards. And we thought it was a little difficult while Ishmail had all of the floors. But this has proven to be a bit more challenging, maybe because we haven’t had the energy to find the pieces of wood scrap we used before to create our stepping stones. So now we are jumping from brace to brace and trying to avoid wet varnish that surrounds us. It feels like we are living in the game ‘Operation’ where we can’t touch the sides. Since the aft cabin has wet floors and a big hole, we are sleeping on the day bed which is actually quite comfortable. I also tried to close the galley due to newly varnished cabinets and floor but Mike talked me into to letting him make one more dinner of beans. This was only because our plans to eat at the worker’s cantina were scrapped. Before we headed on our way, we fortunately called John and Aysel to invite them to join us in a meal of ‘mushroom meat’, pasta and ‘cherry jelly’ for dinner. But unfortunately for them, they had eaten there the night before with some gastro-intestinal distress as a result. And that is the last thing I want while being hauled out with a long walk to the bathroom. At least we had a good laugh while listening to their bathroom humor.

A Hard Day

So we weren’t as optimistic today. There is still a ton of stuff to do on this boat before we can get in the water. It’s looking like the launch date of June 5th isn’t going to happen. The realization of this was a huge let down and took its psychological toll. Mike had one of his worse days since being here. He spent all day trying to figure out the best method for attaching the rigging blocks to the deck. But at the end of the day all he had was a pile of botched attempts, scrap metal and one bad attitude. And it doesn’t help when we have been telling the canvas guy for weeks that we want an estimate when the dodger is in. And he finally decides tell us today that we need a metal guy to do the stainless work first. Don’t you think that would have been worth passing along a few weeks ago? So for a quick quote he grabs the guy for Demir who quoted us 880 Euro for 7 meters of stainless steel pipe. Translation: $50 per foot! Crazy! So now we get to wait for Mehmet to come to the boat to give us an estimate. Why he can’t just tell us over the phone, we don’t know. Sometimes it just feels like the boat is winning.

More Work, Less Food

We’re off to a good start! It was definitely a full day of work for the both of us. Mike started on prepping the decks…grinding, painting, putty. It’s funny, it sounds so simple and straight forward but is anything but. It’s a game of coordinating and planning your steps. And it seems like there is always something else that comes up to throw a wrench into the works. I started the job of varnishing our floors. At least that is straight forward. We took the forward boards outside and got a couple of coats on while sanding and varnishing part of the inside boards. By the end of the day we were beat and had to cancel on hanging out with John and Aysel. Another meal of beer and peanuts, a quick shower and then straight to bed while there was still light in the sky. But despite being really tired, it felt good to have a productive day.

Yummy Sunday

Why haven’t we been going here every Sunday?!
Cinar (pronounced Shinar) was incredible. It’s a huge outdoor restaurant nestled in the trees, with streams and ponds running amidst the tables. Among the guests are ducks waddling along with their chicks, kittens hunting on the rooftops, the inviting smell of wood smoke, and fresh springs where you can fill your water bottle. We even saw a goose attempting to hide a very large egg in a nest of twigs and feathers while it went to take a dip in the pond.


After trying to decide where to sit, we settled on a table in the ‘treehouse’ and had a feast! What a combination of flavors….warm bread, fresh eggs, garden ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, salty olives, sweet honeycomb and homemade strawberry jam. You just wanted to sit there and eat all day.








We finally managed to pull ourselves away from the table and started on our way back to town. But wait, we needed something else delicious to eat and couldn’t resist a stop at one of the many road side stands selling fresh strawberries and honey!






On our way back to the marina we took advantage of Aysel’s turkish, and with her and John’s knowledge bought a wireless modem and SIM card. No more of this crappy wi-fi at the marina. Now if we have a cell phone signal we can get on line! Eventually and definitely in no hurry, we made our way back to the boat where we lounged and napped. And then enjoyed another feast of chicken kabobs on board with John and Aysel. I promise, tomorrow will be more work and less food.

Pide Pide

I blame a combination of things (too much wine with no dinner, cramps and scrubbing anti-fouling the day prior) to explain why I didn’t feel like doing any work today. The continued rain and my reasoning of working tomorrow (giving up my Sunday!) helped diminish the guilt a bit while I napped and read the day away. But Mike stormed ahead and got the new metal at the bow prepped and covered with paint, even welded up an extension to the box in the dodger that houses the companionway hatch. As for the evening, we went into town with John and Aysel to patronize a familiar restaurant to them from last year. Mike has been talking about this pide (Turkish pizza) for the past 2 months and it was pretty damn good. And cheap! Our dinner cost 10 lira ($6.50) for 3 pide and 2 ayran, a delicious yogurt drink. And we probably took one whole pide home for leftovers. Despite how full we were, there was talk about going to lunch tomorrow. Outdoor restaurants in a beautiful setting, such as in the mountains or on a river, seem to be common place in Turkey. And John and Aysel know of a great one not too far from Marmaris. So after a phone call, we got Herbie reserved tomorrow for a little drive and brunch in the mountains!

Black Friday

Part of our daily morning routine consists of making coffee, checking e-mail and the weather (OK, and maybe a game of spider solitaire or two). The forecast for today called for rain. LOTS of rain. Normally not a problem, but when the companionway hatch isn’t in place, and there are a few open holes in various places in the deck, and you need to do some painting, it can become a problem. And lots of rain can become a very big problem. Luckily for us, the forecast didn’t quite pan out as … well… forecasted. It did rain, but not the torrential downpour of biblical proportions that we were expecting. We were able to tarp off the cockpit and cover any holes in the deck that may have caused concern, which left us with our painting projects to worry about. We were painting the anti-fouling (below the water-line) which requires a wet sand anyway, so that part was OK in the rain. Man, what a dirty and toxic job. The anti-foul is supposed to kill any marine critters that want to grow on your hull, so it’s basically a biocide. We got all dolled up in coveralls, masks, gloves and goggles to go at it. Nasty, but with the two of us it went pretty quickly. The next step is the primer. Even though it goes under water, you’re still not supposed to put it on in the rain. The weather couldn’t quite make up its mind. Clouds loomed, then went away feigning disinterest, only to come running back with cracks of thunder and nasty intentions that sent us running under cover. A few spits of rain, and the clouds again would retreat. My old rule of thumb when painting my last boat was that if it was not actively raining, you’re fine. So we armed ourselves with rollers and rags and went for it. We got 99.9% of the hull under the water line covered when the rain decided that we needed a break. We had to wait only about half an hour before Thor got distracted again and left us to finish the last remaining swath. The second coat was delayed by more hollow threats, with associated false starts. Finally in the afternoon, the clouds started to disperse more completely, and we were able to finish the second coat in one smooth go. The boat looks much nicer without the patchwork of old anti-fouling and random patches of primer that she wore before. All the while we were running in and out of the rain with our paint brushes, Ishmail was finishing up the floors. Well, his part is done anyways. Now Serena gets to take all of the floor boards outside and get several coats of varnish on them. And varnish inside the cabin where the floors don’t come up. Fun for her! Also Mehmet came today, with some prompting… and got the bow plate welded on. I shouldn’t poke fun at Serena for the varnishing because my turn comes next with grinding and painting.
After a productive day, our friends John and Aysel came over with a few beers to while away the evening hours and allow us to catch up on the past year. And they have had an eventful one. John’s home (well one of them anyways) is in Haiti and this is where they were at the time of the earthquake. Actually, on that day they were in Port-au-Prince, sitting in a café that was no longer in existence three hours after they returned home. To say the least, they were pretty affected by what they saw and experienced. After John offered his help to several different aid organizations (he is local, knows the culture and speaks many languages) he was turned down for the reason of “We know what we are doing. We have been to Africa.” To John and Aysel, it was pretty apparent that these agencies didn’t have a clue but fortunately stumbled upon an organization from Turkey that seemed to have a realistic approach to the aid they were offering. So now they are traveling in Turkey with this organization (Kimse Yok Mu –translation: Is Anybody There?) raising awareness and also trying to find companies that would like to bring business opportunities to Haiti. It’s kept them very busy with traveling and meetings and will hopefully have the end result of bringing jobs and money to the Haitians. After much conversation, the evening finally came to and end when Aysel got tired and pulled John away, down the ladder for the walk to their boat.

Grumpy...

...and grumpy